Can Sachin beat the odds and excel in his final test?

“How do see a ball very clearly… in your last Test… in England, a ground where you have played some of the biggest cricket of your life and when the opposition has just given your three cheers and the crowd has clapped you all the way to the wicket… I don’t think you see the ball at all.” – John Arlott after Don Bradman has been dismissed for a duck in his last Test innings. The applause just didn’t seem to end… it seemed to go on and on. Bradman’s innings lasted 1 minute and just 2 balls and then the applause continued. That was 1948. [caption id=“attachment_1228711” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] There can be no better exit than a long stay in the middle: Getty[/caption] This, however, is 2013 and we are in the middle of what many see as the greatest farewell accorded to any single sportsman. Sachin was given a salute by Haryana in his last first-class match. In his penultimate Test, Kolkata, as a report in the Indian Express said, resembled a Sachin pandaal. In his final Test match, in the city of his birth, with his mom watching for the first time, Sachin will hope to not share Bradman’s luck. The applause as he walks in has always been special – something that you can only truly savour when you are at the ground. But today, his every move will be cheered – as it was in Kolkata too. But Mumbai identifies with Sachin – the kid, the cricketer, the son, the father, the legend – in a way few other places can claim too. He is one of Mumbai’s own and he is home. And at home, they celebrate you like no place else. The emotions – not the West Indies bowlers – are going to be the greatest challenge for Sachin. Tales of his debut – his bloodied nose and the way he stood up to the fierce Pakistani fast bowlers – are not part of legend. We all know the story and we all see it with awe. Will his exit be spoken of in the same way? There would be no exit better than a long stay in the middle – a chance for the fans to savour his gifts once more. But great exits are a tough act – the emotions can cloud logic, the tears can blur vision, the applause could shake the foundations his game was built on. Of the greats we looked at (there are several others but these came to mind instantly) only Vijay Merchant and Greg Chappell managed centuries in their last Test. Of the two, only Chappell knew his time was up. Merchant, who had just turned 40, injured his shoulder while fielding and never came back onto the cricket field. A planned farewell is difficult precisely because it is planned. You don’t have a goal. You struggle to motivate yourself – one final time… to what end? Still, we wonder, how will it end for the man who hold’s most of cricket’s batting records – there will be tears for sure – that much we know – will there be runs too? How did some of cricket’s greatest batsmen fare in their last Test WG Grace: 28, 1 Jack Hobbs: 47, 9 Wally Hammond: 79 Don Bradman: 0 Vijay Merchant: 154 George Headley: 16, 1 L Hutton: 53 runs Polly Umrigar: 32, 60 Garry Sobers: 0, 20 Greg Chappell: 182 G Viswanath: 10 Sunil Gavaskar: 21, 96 Viv Richards: 2, 60 Miandad: 31 Steve Waugh: 40, 80 Brian Lara: 0, 49 Inzamam-ul-haq: 14, 3 Gilchrist: 18 Sourav Ganguly: 85, 0 Rahul Dravid: 1, 15 VVS Laxman: 18, 35 Ricky Ponting: 4, 8